A collaboration between Lennon and Jan van Schaik . THE RED BOX is an experimental installation and performance, conceived of in reverse. The set and initial performance were shown in the L’Escaut collaborative artists residency in April 2024 for the Art Brussels OFF Programme.The set remains in place for 12 months during which it will host exhibitions by a series of invited artists. In April 2025 a second installation and performance will take place and bring the project to a finale in May of that same year
Photos by Albert Comper
The Set
The set treats the built form of the L’Escaut building as if a found object. Its architectural elements are sampled, and then remade up side down, back to front, and mirrored. Together the existing building and the remade components work to create a space of multiple architectural and elemental realities.
all following photos by Fabien Silvestre Suzor and Johan Poezevara
The characters are a response to the set’s desire to be occupied. Their invention arises from a sampling of the emotional, political, social, and cultural conditions of the set’s location, seen through the antipodean lens worn by the artists whose practices are based on the opposite side of the globe.
The Storyteller played by Lisa Hoffmann
The Interupptor played by Marco Schröder
The Grifter played by Alba T Alvarez
The Lurker played by Jan van Schaik
The Fixer played by Olivia Lennon
The performance is a part-improvised part-rehearssed activation of the characters within the physical and conceptual space of the set performed over a 90 minute period. Performed at L’Escaut for the Art Brussels OFF Programme, 28 April 2024.
Project team
Artists
Olivia Lennon and Jan van Schaik
Performers
Alba T Alvarez
Lisa Hoffman
Olivia Lennon
Marco Schroeder
Jan van Schaik
Costume Technicians
Olivia Lennon
Isabelle Van Peteghem
Residency Support and Project Management
Tara d’Arquian
Oliver Bastin
Jan van Schaik
Scenography and Set Construction
Darren Roshier
Steve Neuville
Jan van Schaik
3D Printing
Christian Halkin
Photography
Albert Comper
Johan Poezevara
Fabien Silvestre Suzor
Organisational Support
Generously supported by L’Escaut, RMIT Architecture & Urban Design, and Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles